Vehicle Repairs
As I mentioned yesterday, we're primarily here in Calgary to get trixstir's hearing-aides serviced. Another thing that needs doing though, is getting her van serviced; It needed an oil-change, and it needs to have the rear brakes serviced. We actually bought the new brake-pads back in August when they were on sale, hoping to get a local mechanic to install them. That never happened though, and I wound up bringing the pads with us to get them installed in Calgary. As much as I didn't want to pay the high prices, I think when it comes to brakes, it might be worth the extra cost to get a nation-wide warranty, and some sense of comfort in knowing that the job is professionally done. That's going to get done tomorrow, since the shop was too busy to take it in today (plus it was 5:30 by the time we got there, but at least I was able to make sure they could (and would) do it. A lot of places won't do work if you bring the parts from somewhere else.)
I had wanted to try McDonald's new Steak and Egg breakfast bagel, but apparently the cashier thought I said "Bacon and egg Bagel" because that's what I got from the drive-through. I didn't realize that there was a mistake until it was too late to go back; At least I didn't get charged for the Steak and Egg bagel, as it would have been considerably more expensive. Still, irked that I didn't get to try it, and I really would never have ordered a Bacon and Egg bagel - there's barely anything to it. At least I was able to make up for that at lunch, but first we had to get the van's oil changed.
There's a Mr. Lube near the McDonald's that I always use, and I'm pleased to see that they're finally keeping their online records longer than a couple months. They used to delete them after three or four months, so I was constantly having to re-enroll in their system; Not anymore though, they had the last visit with the van on-record, and were able to call up all of its information. That helped a little, but we had still lost a good half-hour before we even got into the service bay, playing car-shuffle as they kept moving us from one line to another. Particularly annoying at one point when the line they moved us out of moved faster, and someone who should have been behind us got in ahead of us! The half-hearted apology didn't really make any ammends. :P I had them change the air-cleaner while they had it apart; Normally, I'd do this job myself rather than pay them to do it - But the air-filter in the van is a little trickier to get at, and the weather outside is less than pleasant. Had this been in the middle of Summer, all nice and warm, I would have done the job myself; But in light of the cold, near-Winter conditions, I was quite content to pay the extra $$ and sit in the warmth and relative comfort of the vehicle while someone else got their hands dirty.
Lunch, as I said, made up for the paltry breakfast. We went to the Asian Buffet near Mom's place, and I enjoyed some of my very favourite dishes, which I can't seem to get at any of the places in Shaunavon or Swift Current. Being the lunch buffet, they didn't have any Salt & Pepper Squid, but they did have the steamed Shrimp Dumplings, and steamed Shrimp & Pork bundles that I absolutely love! I also tried a few pieces of Sushi; Not bad, but seven little pieces was enough to sate that desire for a while. They had tastey Shanghai Noodles, and these "Japanese Mushrooms" in a thick dark sauce that were just wonderful! Combined with some soothing Jasmine Tea to wash it all down, and it was a great lunch! I dropped Trixstir off at Mom's place afterwards, while I went to Princess Auto and Costco to get those shopping trips taken care of. I had also needed to go to WalMart, Rona, Staples, and Home Depot, but those would have to wait. My legs were so sore by the end of the evening, and I was (and am) so tired... Didn't get a lot of sleep last night - strange bed, and Elizabeth fussed all night.
I had hoped to catch up with wolfmatix (whom I haven't seen in much too long) but he was already "engaged" for the evening, so we made plans to get together tomorrow night instead. Probably just as well, given how tired I am at the moment. All this driving around in Trixstir's van isn't helping my back much either - there's something about the seats in that thing that just knot up my muscles like crazy, though I'm not sure why. Anyway, hopefully I'll get more sleep tonight than I did last night.
I had wanted to try McDonald's new Steak and Egg breakfast bagel, but apparently the cashier thought I said "Bacon and egg Bagel" because that's what I got from the drive-through. I didn't realize that there was a mistake until it was too late to go back; At least I didn't get charged for the Steak and Egg bagel, as it would have been considerably more expensive. Still, irked that I didn't get to try it, and I really would never have ordered a Bacon and Egg bagel - there's barely anything to it. At least I was able to make up for that at lunch, but first we had to get the van's oil changed.
There's a Mr. Lube near the McDonald's that I always use, and I'm pleased to see that they're finally keeping their online records longer than a couple months. They used to delete them after three or four months, so I was constantly having to re-enroll in their system; Not anymore though, they had the last visit with the van on-record, and were able to call up all of its information. That helped a little, but we had still lost a good half-hour before we even got into the service bay, playing car-shuffle as they kept moving us from one line to another. Particularly annoying at one point when the line they moved us out of moved faster, and someone who should have been behind us got in ahead of us! The half-hearted apology didn't really make any ammends. :P I had them change the air-cleaner while they had it apart; Normally, I'd do this job myself rather than pay them to do it - But the air-filter in the van is a little trickier to get at, and the weather outside is less than pleasant. Had this been in the middle of Summer, all nice and warm, I would have done the job myself; But in light of the cold, near-Winter conditions, I was quite content to pay the extra $$ and sit in the warmth and relative comfort of the vehicle while someone else got their hands dirty.
Lunch, as I said, made up for the paltry breakfast. We went to the Asian Buffet near Mom's place, and I enjoyed some of my very favourite dishes, which I can't seem to get at any of the places in Shaunavon or Swift Current. Being the lunch buffet, they didn't have any Salt & Pepper Squid, but they did have the steamed Shrimp Dumplings, and steamed Shrimp & Pork bundles that I absolutely love! I also tried a few pieces of Sushi; Not bad, but seven little pieces was enough to sate that desire for a while. They had tastey Shanghai Noodles, and these "Japanese Mushrooms" in a thick dark sauce that were just wonderful! Combined with some soothing Jasmine Tea to wash it all down, and it was a great lunch! I dropped Trixstir off at Mom's place afterwards, while I went to Princess Auto and Costco to get those shopping trips taken care of. I had also needed to go to WalMart, Rona, Staples, and Home Depot, but those would have to wait. My legs were so sore by the end of the evening, and I was (and am) so tired... Didn't get a lot of sleep last night - strange bed, and Elizabeth fussed all night.
I had hoped to catch up with wolfmatix (whom I haven't seen in much too long) but he was already "engaged" for the evening, so we made plans to get together tomorrow night instead. Probably just as well, given how tired I am at the moment. All this driving around in Trixstir's van isn't helping my back much either - there's something about the seats in that thing that just knot up my muscles like crazy, though I'm not sure why. Anyway, hopefully I'll get more sleep tonight than I did last night.